Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-13
THE TRUE INWARDNEsS.
1t Is Not SO Much California as Other
States to be Effected.

The powerful interests opposed to the
| publication by the State of the school text
books are taking advantage of serious
| error of the Superintendent of State Print
ing for the purpose of prejudicing the en-
tire scheme. 1t seems that the fund for
doing the general State printing was pre-
maturely exhausted by the extraordinary
expenditure for work done for the last SEES
sion of the Legislature. and that in this di-
lemma the Superintendent continued the
ordinary work of his department by draw
ing money from the textbook printing
fund to keep it going. The result was that
both funds were wrecked a short time be-
fore the Both of June, the end of the fiscal
year. We believe that the amount di-
verted from one fund to the other was
about $4,000. On the strength of this
error, by which the State loses nothing
for the money was spent for legitimate pub
lie work-the school-book ring and their
organs set up howl against the whole text
book scheme. They at once assume that
the State has made failure of the work
and treat mere error of judgment as if
it were an evidence of corrupt diversion
OF public funds. The diversion ought
never to have occurred. The Superintend-
ent should have sacredly reserved the
moneys appropriated for the production of
the school-books to that purpose alone;
bnt unless the assailants of the State plan
can show that this diversion has in some
material way injured the scheme by rails
ing the price of the books or lowering their
standard of excellence, the misapplication
of the money does not help their case The
simple fact is that 500 900 of the States
money has been used for one kind of public
work when it should have been used for
another. There has been nothing lost. and
the money taken from the school-book
fund will have to be paid back. The text
book problem has lost nothing of its force
by the mistake. 1t still remains fact that
the books can be sold to the children at
less than one-half their previous cost; that
the prices fixed for the books by the State
Board of Education is the actual cost to
the State of their manufacture; that the
State is comforting boon upon the people
by publishing the books. 1t may be well to
give the public an idea of the Interior rea-
sons for the powerful effort now made to
break down the State enterprise The
school-book ring pervades every State in
the Union, and finds its immense profits in
its systematic forcing of the books of the
combination upon every State in the Union.
Not only this, but it compels frequent
changes of the books, thus marketing its
publications upon the schools with unne-
cessary redundancy. AS all the school
book publishers in the United States are
leagued together, they thus hold the inte-
rior lines on all the books used by the
schools. They could afford TO lose the Gus
tom of California, but it would eventuate
in ruin to them for California to success
fully carry out the present enterprise of
publishing its own school books. For if
the scheme in this State becomes unques-
tonable successful, other States will follow
its example, and in short time the occu-
patton OF the great school-book ring would
be gone. Hence no effort will be left I'M
tried to cripple and destroy the California
scheme. To do so they will seize upon
every straw; they will make mountains
out of mole-hills; they will misrepresent
and magnify. In short, they will resort to
any kind of tactics to kill the plan to fur.
nish the children with school books at
cost.-Los angeles Herald.